Learning to live in a free way - a conversation with Vessantara

Dhammamegha speaks to Bodhidasa in Sydney, Australia, about his upcoming book Approaching Enlightenment: A Guidebook for Buddhist Ritual. The conversation covers: Bodhidasa as a practitioner, teacher, and self-declared geek. We’ll hear about his interests in magic, games, popular culture, and literature, and how these are part of his practice and the book. How ritual, archetypes, and myth enable a connection with transpersonal and enlightened qualities and potentials. Different approaches to Buddhist practice - from ascetic and austere approaches on the one hand, to those drawn to objects, worldly activities, and emotions of devotion, joy, and integration. Cultural tensions between secular life and ritual practices, and the Buddhist tradition’s own relationships with ritual—as a fetter and as a path. How ritual opens us up to something inconvenient—the possibility that there is more in you and others than the limits we impose. Bodhidasa’s own integration of elements of ritual into his day—through offering, worship, going for refuge, confession, and rejoicing. Useful Links: PUJA: The Triratna Book of Buddhist Devotional Texts. Creative Symbols of Tantric Buddhism is available in Volume 13 of the Complete Works of Sangharakshita FutureDharma Fund. Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.

Today, Dhammamegha speaks with award winning author and speaker Valerie (Vimalasara) Mason John about their soon-to-be-released pocketbook First Aid Kit for the Mind: Breaking the Cycle of Habitual Behaviours. We hear about Vimalasara’s life and writing, and the deep well of experience through trauma and addiction recovery and mindfulness. They speak from the heart about all the tools to connect what you already have to live more embodied, skilful and free. These tools are all laid out in this small, illustrated, easy-to-use guide to healing the mind. Order First Aid Kit for the Mind online, from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy First Aid Kit for the Mind (Europe) Buy First Aid Kit for the Mind (US & Canada)   Find out more about Valerie (Vimalasara) Mason-John. FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.

In this episode, Dhammamegha speaks with Cindy Rasicot - the author of a new book This Fresh Existence: Heart Teachings from Bhikkhuni Dhammananda. Cindy speaks about meeting her teacher Venerable Dhammananda, and responding to her challenging message of kindness and forgiveness rather than anger and hatred. The podcast conversation covers what it is like to be a student and disciple, different ways of practice in Asian and convert American Buddhism, and the radical transformation that can come with the healing practice of the medicine Buddha.   Links:  Order This Fresh Existence online, from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy This Fresh Existence (Europe) Buy This Fresh Existence (US & Canada)   Find out more about Cindy Rasicot and Venerable Dhammananda’s Monastery. FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.

Today we have a wonderful and insightful conversation with River Wolton, a poet, writer, activist, Buddhist teacher and author of her new book titled The Subtle Art of Caring. We talk about her life and practice and the Buddha’s teachings of the Brahma Viharas or divine abodes. In this book, River looks again at these ancient teachings as a resource for sustaining compassion through moments of pausing, befriending, enjoying, caring and letting be.  As Dene Donalds, Dharma teacher in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh and founding member of The Colours of Compassion Sangha says: 'If you wish to explore how to take Buddhism off the meditation cushion and into the world, read this book.'    Links:  Order The Subtle Art of Caring online, from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy The Subtle Art of Caring (Europe) Buy The Subtle Art of Caring (US & Canada)   Find out more about River Wolton and the book. FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.  

In this new episode of the Windhorse Publications podcast, our publishing director Dhammamegha speaks to the author of a book we’ll be bringing out later in September – Starting on the Buddhist Path: An Invitation. In the conversation, the author Sagaraghosa muses about her first encounters with Buddhism, the importance of friendship in practice and how the dharma can change our lives for the better. She also tackles that great Buddhist question of the nature of the self, and how we can reflect on the aspects of our experience and their possibilities as a gateway to greater happiness for ourselves and others.   Links:  Order Starting on the Buddhist Path online, from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy Starting on the Buddhist Path (Europe) Buy Starting on the Buddhist Path (US & Canada)   Find out more about Sagaraghosa and the book.   FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.  

The Dharma is a universal teaching and an array of practices for liberation. In history, it is embodied by teachers who respond to the particular forms of suffering and bondage that they are born into, human and social.  In its spread between India and what could broadly be called the West, the Triratna Buddhist movement and order is rather unique in contemporary convert Buddhism.  In this episode, Dhammamegha is in conversation with Vajratara about the recent developments in the Refuge Tree of the Triratna Buddhist community and order, and the release of a new edition of the book Teachers of Enlightenment by Kulananda. They speak about the inclusion of Dr. Ambedkar from India and Anagarika Dharmapala from Sri Lanka as engaged teachers whom Sangharakshita found inspiring.   Links:  Order Teachers of Enlightenment online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy Teachers of Enlightenment (Europe) Buy Teachers of Enlightenment (US & Canada)   Find out more about Sangharakshita and the founding of the Triratna Buddhist movement in Nagabodhi’s recently published Sangharakshita: The Boy, The Man, The Monk.   The Anagarika Dharmapala biography and other writings are included in Volume 8 of the Complete Works of Sangharakshita, Beating the Dharma Drum: India Writings II   FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.

Thirty years after the first publication of Meeting the Buddhas, Dhammamegha speaks with Vessantara about the new edition of this classic Dharma text. After learning how the book came to be, the discussion turns to the qualities of the enlightened mind, and the nature and power of these Buddha and Bodhisattva figures, and a whole path to living in freedom. We had this conversation in Vessantara’s lounge in January this year, and the sound quality isn’t as good as we would have liked, but still definitely worth a listen. Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about future podcast releases.   Links:  Order Meeting the Buddhas online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy Meeting the Buddhas (Europe) Buy Meeting the Buddhas (US & Canada)   About Vessantara Vessantara's website and his new poem book Thirty Dragons and other Poems, 1967 – 2022 FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok

A great storyteller and author, in this podcast Nagabodhi tells us about his life in relationship to Sangharakshita, and the interesting process of writing about him. Who was Sangharakshita, and what was his life’s project – working out what it is to be a Buddhist in the world today. We have a candid conversation about Sangharakshita’s sexuality, his relationships, his legacy, his experiments in ways of being, and the nature of community or Sangha. The book Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man comes out in the UK at the end of February 2023.   Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about future podcast releases. Links:  Order Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man (Europe) Buy Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man (US & Canada)   Learn more about Sangharakshita's life About Nagabodhi FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

Windhorse Publications recently acquired the rights to a fantastic memoir, first published earlier in 2022. In this episode of the podcast, Dhammamegha speaks with its author, Satyadasa.    Perhaps we all have a fantasy about what it means to be a Buddhist; what a life in the Dharma looks like. Satyadasa, born with one hand, recounts meeting the Dharma in London as a young man, and the joy, questions, friendships and choices that followed. It’s unusual to have such a fresh, brilliantly-written, touching and vivid account of what being a Buddhist actually looks like in practice.   Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about future podcast releases.   Links:  Order The Sound of One Hand online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy The Sound of One Hand (Europe) Buy The Sound of One Hand (US & Canada)   About Satyadasa FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

A lot of life is spent online these days. It is the medium for news, entertainment, work, debate and perspective, music, keeping up with friends, dating, and, for some, pornography. In this podcast episode, Dhammamegha speaks with new author Prajnaketu about his upcoming book Cyberloka: A Buddhist guide to digital life. Prajnaketu wants to open up ways of thinking and talking about our digital lives that draw on the teachings of the Buddha.  We talk about hyper-availability and how to go mindfully into our digital lives, leaving space for depth. We discuss super-stimulation and in particular the use of porn and other potentially addictive sources of pleasure online. And we hear about how to have better conversations online, including how to disagree more skilfully. Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about future podcast releases.   Links:  Order Cyberloka online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy Cyberloka (Europe) Buy Cyberloka (US & Canada)   About Prajnaketu FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.